Like apple pie and rock n' roll, blue jeans are one of America's top cultural exports. Yet despite its red, white and (especially) blue roots, with free trade sending much of American manufacturing overseas, it has become standard to find a "Made In" tag bearing a poor foreign country's name. That, it seems, has troubled Beck, the arch conservative radio host and online TV pioneer, and he decided to do something about it: design his own line of jeans, and manufacture them in the United States.

And so, Monday marks the launch of 1791 Supply Co., Beck's first step into the fashion industry. Named after the year that the Constitution was ratified (though presumably the founding fathers were wearing britches and knickerbockers at the time), Beck has assured their quality by being involved in "every step of the process from the stitching, to the buttons, and to the quality of the rivets," according to his website.

Traditionally a working-class pant, jeans have also become a mainstay of designer fashion, running up to hundreds of dollars per pair. These jeans are of the old school selvedge variety, which are made on narrower looms than they mass manufactured pants of today.

The jeans, available in "classic" and "straight" styles, run a cool $129 each.